Help with WiFi please?

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I bought one of these: http://cgi.ebay.com/802-11G-WiFi-Wi...090412534QQcategoryZ45002QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I plugged it in, and it didn't do a thing! The system profiler saids Vendor Name: ZyDAS, Product ID: 4629 ($1215)

I can only find this driver: http://sourceforge.net/projects/zd1211/

I'm not sure if it will work with my USB adapter or not... Any help? I REALLY can't screw up this copy of OS X, so it needs to remain stable! :p I've been waiting to get this thing online since 2 weeks ago when the seller messed up my order!
 
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hmm, to be perfectly honest, it looks kinda dodgy to me. 145% performance? What does that mean? 45% greater than a previous product? All other products? 150% distance? Again, same questions apply.

It says it's compatible with OS X, but states it will only work on 10.3+. Which version do you have?

If you're really after a good product, Apple's Airport products are top notch. We recently went wireless with just an Airport Express station, and had absolutely no troubles with it. The network was created a few seconds after the modem connected to the internet, like it usually does, and it was smooth sailing from there. Never really had any problems with it, and have been able to connect 3 different laptops with it (including one windows) as well as my DS and Wii.

The difference in price between this product and Airport is vast, but you really do get what you pay for. If it's made by Apple, for Apple, you can't really go wrong.

Oh, and that driver you linked to seems to be for Linux, not OS X. If there's no driver for mac (and there should be, since the product claims to be mac compatible) then you might have to find a better product. It strikes me as odd that the driver software wasn't supplied with it. They should at least give a proper link to where you could download it from.

Personally, I'd be going to visit a few computer shops (or a mac shop) to get more info on different products, prices etc. I mean no offense in this, but I can't say I'd trust a $10 wifi product.

I hope you get this sorted out. :)
 
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Mac is now starting to get on my bad side... I have 10.3.9. I can't afford a $80 Airport. There was a driver supplied, but it was on a little CD with drivers only for Windows. I really wish Mac could just do what Windows does in a situation like this, plug and play! I find it kind of disturbing I have to use strict Apple products on my iMac.
 
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Unfortunately ICM...if 'ya wanna dance 'ya gotta pay the fiddler.

Save up your money and get the real deal...I have an old Airport Base Station that I've had for easily 7 years and it's still kicking butt and taking names.
 

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Mac is now starting to get on my bad side... I have 10.3.9. I can't afford a $80 Airport. There was a driver supplied, but it was on a little CD with drivers only for Windows. I really wish Mac could just do what Windows does in a situation like this, plug and play! I find it kind of disturbing I have to use strict Apple products on my iMac.

Do remember, your Mac is very old. I am wondering if there will be issues with the USB 1.1 ports on your old Mac and this WiFi dongle as it's for USB 2. Most things are backward compatible but some are not. I will look around and see what I can find driver wise.

Edit, found an address to the people who do the chipset, guess what. they are gone. their page is gone. Here is a pic.

Picture 1.jpg
 

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Ok, found this. Read the OSX part CAREfully. You have to go into the terminal and edit code. Check it out. That company is STARTING to get me angry. This is not an OSX or Apple problem. Their So called OSX compatibility is not what they seem to say.

http://www.netstumbler.org/archive/index.php/t-18159.html
 
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hmm, to be perfectly honest, it looks kinda dodgy to me. 145% performance? What does that mean? 45% greater than a previous product? All other products? 150% distance? Again, same questions apply. ...
I mean no offense in this, but I can't say I'd trust a $10 wifi product.
Ah, yes.... the super-high quality of "NoName" brand. I agree, that would have been my first tip off to not buy this.
Save up your money and get the real deal...I have an old Airport Base Station that I've had for easily 7 years and it's still kicking butt and taking names.
Yes, get an AirPort Card. You don't have to drop the cash on an AirPort Base Station, as any router will do. Just be on the lookout for an original AirPort Card and that will do the trick.
dtownley1 said:
...(and there should be, since the product claims to be mac compatible) then you might have to find a better product. It strikes me as odd that the driver software wasn't supplied with it. They should at least give a proper link to where you could download it from.
A tip for everyone... this is not uncommon or odd to find on eBay. Literally hundreds of sellers claim that their products are "Mac compatible" when they actually have no idea if they are or not. Especially the "NoName" stuff...case in point: "There was a driver supplied, but it was on a little CD with drivers only for Windows."

If the brand name and/or model number isn't included in the auction, my adivce is to steer clear no matter how great the price may seem. Email the seller first to get that information. Then do a Google search for that product to see if drivers are available BEFORE you bid. If the seller cannot provide such info, then don't bother with it.

Finally,
I really wish Mac could just do what Windows does in a situation like this, plug and play! I find it kind of disturbing I have to use strict Apple products on my iMac.
Not even Windows is 100% 'Plug and Play'. Its more like 'Plug and Pray' the majority of the time.:black:
I recall a time when a coworker of mine bought a MS branded, P&P Sidewinder game pad for his Windows notebook. He plugged it in.... and nothing happened. He used the included disc to install the drivers (even though it was P&P, which should have negated this step). Nothing happened. He went to the MS site and downloaded the driver. Still, nothing. He tried the gamepad on no less than 4 different Windows machines that day... not a single one of them would recognize or install the gamepad... the one branded by MS and that was supposedly "Plug and Play" with their OS. He was about to deem it a faulty piece of crap, until I stepped in. I took the gamepad, plugged it into my iBook G4. System Profiler found it right away and listed it as a MS Sidewinder GamePad. I fired up THPS4 and used the gamepad to play for about 20 minutes. I never had a problem with it. My coworker (a Mac hater) was extremely upset by this... yet had no snappy retort to give. He simply continued to try drivers and fiddled with his Windows system to try and get it to work. (It never did work and I never saw him with that gamepad again).

Regardless, this is not the fault of Apple. If the hardware manufacturer doesn't make a driver for what they make, then an OS cannot be held responsible to make something work. That falls back on the company that made the hardware and neglected to include compatible software with it.
 
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Seems there was in fact drivers for Mac OS X 10.3 on the little CD that came with it. I burned them onto a full size CD and popped it into the Mac. Read the guide, used the install, and it works! I'm finnaley wireless and sitting in a room warm with my iMac.
 

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Glad you got it working because the people who make that thing are gone, at least their site is.
 

dtravis7


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Regardless, this is not the fault of Apple. If the hardware manufacturer doesn't make a driver for what they make, then an OS cannot be held responsible to make something work. That falls back on the company that made the hardware and neglected to include compatible software with it.


Agreed completely. I have friends who bash XP that came out in 2001 for not having a driver built in for a brand new Motherboard's chipset that just came out in 2007. It's NOT MICROSOFT or APPLES fault if a new Chipset comes out. The people who make the Chipset are the ones responsible for making drivers for their products.
 
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Seems there was in fact drivers for Mac OS X 10.3 on the little CD that came with it. I burned them onto a full size CD and popped it into the Mac. Read the guide, used the install, and it works! I'm finnaley wireless and sitting in a room warm with my iMac.

wow, glad you got it working. Make sure you set up some encryption for it, so nobody leeches off your hard work network.

But as DB and others have pointed out, be wary of cheap stuff like that. You often don't get what you pay for.

Generally, mac is 'plug and play', as it comes with many of the drivers needed for all kinds of devices. This is especially true for external hard-drives for example.

Just for kicks, maybe you should try setting up that wifi kit of yours on a PC - see if it's any easier. I don't think it would be 'plug and play' though. Surely, windows is never that simple.
 
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Oh, I did! That's why I made that comment. :p My other PC I purcahsed a linksys PCI card, and it worked on the spot also. I just feel odd paying more for a wireless card than I did for the PC... It's like me spending a grand on wheels for my car when I only paid $700 for it...

Just for kicks, maybe you should try setting up that wifi kit of yours on a PC - see if it's any easier. I don't think it would be 'plug and play' though. Surely, windows is never that simple.
 

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